Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall says Sunday's win over Northampton was as good as Sarries have played all season

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall says his side played as well as they have all season in beating Northampton Saints on Sunday.

The 28-24 win at Allianz Park leaves Sarries top of the Premiership and boasting a ten point gap over the second-place Saints.

Speaking after, McCall told the club's official site: “I was chuffed with how we played. It was a good as we’ve played all season, we were hard to handle at times today.

“What I enjoyed was the intent we had in everything we did today. Intent to counter attack, intent to carry the ball, intent to chase kicks, intent in defence – I thought we really good today.”

McCall also stressed the significance of securing the top spot in order to enjoy home advantage in the semi-finals of the play-offs, particularly against rivals like the Saints, despite some rocky closing stages.

He said: “This is where we want to be for a semi-final, so to play like that at Allianz Park was very important.

“I will ignore that last ten minutes to be honest, because what happened before that was brilliant,” he added.

Saracens have only three league fixtures remaining, one of which pits them against third-placed Leicester Tigers.